LEGAL PROSECUTIONS OF ANIMALS. 621 



formed that it was necessary to provide a piece of land outside the 

 vineyards, where the beetles could live without infringing on the vines. 

 The land was to be of a certain extent, and to contain trees, herbs, etc., 

 in sufficient quantity, and of good quality. The concession was made 

 June 29, 1587, and on July 4th the counsel for the inhabitants presented 

 a request to the court that, in default of the defendants accepting the 

 offer, the judge would order the vineyards to be respected under 

 certain penalties. The advocate for the animals demanded time for 

 deliberation, and, the trial being resumed in September following, he 

 declared that he could not accept on the part of his clients the offer 

 that had been made to them, inasmuch as the locality in question was 

 barren and did not produce anything. This was denied on the other 

 side, and arbitrators were appointed to decide the question. The result 

 is not known, as the manuscript containing the case leaves off at this 

 point, but sufficient particulars have been given to show the extremely 

 absurd and curious proceedings on this subject. 



No district could commence a legal pi-ocess of this kind unless all 

 the arrears of tithes were paid up to the Church, and this circumstance 

 gave rise to the well-known French legal maxim, " The first step to- 

 ward getting rid of locusts is the payment of tithes." It seems that 

 the clergy and the lawyers agreed very well together in these matters. 

 Chasseneuz, a celebrated lawyer of the sixteenth century, writing on 

 the subject of trying animals by law, in order to console the Beaunois 

 for the plague of locusts (vulgarly called hicberes), informs them that 

 the creatures of which they complain were nothing in comparison to 

 those that infested India. These last were no less than three feet long, 

 and their legs were armed with teeth so powerful that saws were made 

 of them ! The best means of deliverance was to pay promptly and 

 truly the tithes of the Church, and to cause a female (barefooted) to 

 walk round the infected place. 



The same means indicated by the lawyer for the inhabitants of St. 

 Julien de Maurienne were employed very often, and successfully, ac- 

 cording to some writers ; thus, a famous councilor of Zurich, Felix 

 Malleolus, or Hemmerlin (died 1457), relates that Guillaume de Saluces, 

 who was Bishop of Lausanne from 1221 to 1229, ordered the eels of 

 Lake Leman to confine themselves to a certain part, from which they 

 were not to go out. He relates, also, that in the diocese of Constance 

 and in the neighborhood of Coire were consigned, " en une region f ores- 

 tiere et sauvage," larvae and Spanish flies, that had been previously 

 cited before the provincial magistrate, who, " taking into considera- 

 tion their youth and diminutive size, appointed an advocate to defend 

 them." 



The summonses against offending animals were served by an officer 

 of the criminal court, who read these citations at the places frequented 

 by them. Though judgment was given by default on the non-appear- 

 ance of the animals summoned, yet it was considered necessary that 



